


Listen with Your Heart

by genagirl



Category: The Sentinel
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Humor, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-09
Updated: 2013-09-09
Packaged: 2017-12-26 02:39:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 803
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/960597
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/genagirl/pseuds/genagirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Blair didn't know that Jim could be his that whole time.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Listen with Your Heart

Listen with Your Heart

By Gena 

 

"Which way is he going?" Blair’s hushed question sounded loud in the still air. 

He sat on the hood of the Ford, pressed as close as he could get to his 

partner’s larger body, really wishing he’d worn a thicker coat. Jim, eyes 

closed, head tilted to the side, raised a hand to forestall any other questions 

and pointed to his left. Blair followed where Jim pointed, watching as the 

detective slowly moved his finger along an invisible path. 

 

"He’s walking towards the creek," the quiet voice said. A tiny smile curled 

Jim’s lips, "I can smell the water, Chief. It’s so fresh, so sweet like honey." 

He shook his head, reining in his senses to focus on the one spot even more 

still and silent that the beauty woods in which they sat. "Chief? Blair, what’s 

wrong? The hunters can’t come this far, Chief, the buck will be fine." He waited 

until his young friend raised his head, and turned to hesitantly meet his gaze. 

"I don’t..." he floundered to a stop, confused by the tears which welled in 

Sandburg’s blue eyes. Suddenly nothing mattered in the world but comforting the 

man he loved more than life. "What is it?" he asked in a husky voice.

 

For a moment Blair didn’t answer, tears like crystals shimmered above his dark 

lashes, balancing for an eternity before one lone drop slid over the swell of 

his cheek and caressed the corner of his full lips. "I just...sometimes I want 

it so bad, Jim," he so softly Jim was forced to lean closer. "I want to hear and 

see and feel the things you can and I know," he sniffed and wiped two fingers 

across his cheek, looking down at the tears he held, "I know that I’m never 

going to." He nodded to himself, stiffening his spine and taking a deep breath. 

Jim watched it and pride magnified the emotions he had long carried within his 

heart for Blair. 

 

Slowly, gently, he reached out and captured Sandburg’s wrist. When Blair would 

have asked, he silenced the younger man with the other hand to his lips. Once 

Blair was sitting quietly, Jim raised his hand from where it rested against the 

pliant mouth and placed the tips of his fingers over the trembling eyelids, 

carefully pressing them closed. He waited, awed by the trust so eagerly given 

him, until his own trembling had ceased, then turned Blair’s palm upwards, 

holding it there with his own beneath. It took a moment but then the first 

velvety flakes of snow landed on Blair’s warm flesh. Enchanted, Jim watched the 

delicate sculptures fold in upon themselves and melt away. "What does that feel 

like?" he asked in a voice barely audible but powerful enough to stir the curls 

so close to his mouth.

 

"Wings," came the equally quiet reply. "Like the brush of a butterfly’s wings." 

Jim felt tension drain from his body, washed away by the simple pleasure which 

filled him. 

 

"Listen," Jim ordered. Still holding Blair’s hand open, he used the other to 

lift the thick curtain of curls concealing Sandburg’s ear. "You can hear the 

buck," he assured, "listen with your heart, Blair. The sleek muscles beneath 

velvet skin, the graceful legs and powerful hooves. Hear him tread the leaves, 

hear them crackled." He kept his voice low, whispering the words directly into 

Blair’s ear, painting the images he could still hear clearly. "Smell the stream, 

the clean water washing over the rocks, the sweet scent of the pine needles 

being washed down to the ocean. It’s all there, Chief, it’s there and it belongs 

to you."

 

He curled his fingers over those still held in his hand, trapping the fragile 

snowflakes as surely as he did Blair’s fingers. "Everything I feel, I feel 

because you gave it to me." The soothing cadence of his words slowed Blair’s 

breathing, lulling him into a peacefulness Jim had rarely seen in the younger 

man. "It all comes from you, Blair," he said and let his hand tangle in the 

curls he had brushed aside. "My world comes from you, I see it with your eyes, 

hear it with your ears," he pressed his lips to Blair’s cheek and breathed, "I 

taste it with your mouth. "

 

Sandburg’s lax body, calmed by the confident words, melted against Jim. Ellison 

released the hand he held and wrapped both arms around his partner, burying his 

face in the sweet curls. "I never knew," Blair said, his voice suspiciously 

strained. "I never knew I had it within my grasp," he tightened his hold, "but 

now that I do, I won’t let it go." Ellison, his smile hidden, caressed his 

partner’s back and listened to the buck cross the stream and walk away into the 

forest.


End file.
